Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-2019

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Business Administration

Major Professor

James N. Myers

Committee Members

Linda A. Myers, Lauren M. Cunningham, Matthew C. Harris

Abstract

Past research has examined the effect of resource constraints on client-continuance decisions, but no studies to date have examined how these resource constraints affect the relation between various determinants and client-continuance decisions. In this study, I examine whether the determinants of auditor client-continuance decisions vary with the auditor’s resource constraints, proxied for by whether the client has a December year-end (i.e., busy season client) versus a non-December year-end. I posit that auditors are more sensitive to client risks when anticipated resources are constrained. I find that some determinants of auditor client-continuance decisions differ between busy season and non-busy season clients, suggesting that auditors allow anticipated resource constraints to affect their client-continuance decisions. On average, across the full sample, auditors are less likely to continue working with busy season clients that issue non-timely 10-k filings (audit risk) and have higher market-value of equity (litigation risk) relative to non-busy season clients that also issue non-timely 10-K filings and have higher market-value of equity. For the auditor-client relationships that continue, auditors allocate more resources to busy season clients with low earnings quality and risky account balances (audit risk), as well as weak financial performance (financial risk) relative to non-busy season clients.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS